Various, or Various Production, is an English dubstep/electronic music duo formed in 2003. The group blends samples, acoustic and electronic instrumentation, and singing from a revolving cast of vocalists. Its members, Adam and Ian, purposefully give very little information about the group or themselves, and tend to do little in the way of self-promotion. Nevertheless, the group began winning critical acclaim with its single releases in 2005 and 2006. Their full-length for XL, ''The World is Gone'', arrived in July 2006. They have released a large number of vinyl EPs and 7" records, as well as digital exclusives for Rough Trade, iTunes, and Boomkat. They have released remixes of a large variety of artists (sometimes uncredited) such as Thom Yorke, Adele, Virus Syndicate, Dave Cloud, Cat Power, Emma Pollock and Ian Brown and participated with one track on the Vexille Movie Soundtrack.

The duo signed a publishing deal with the newly formed Fire Songs in November 2007, a division of eclectic London-based record label Fire Records. In 2008, the group started their own record label, called Various Production, where they began releasing their own material, followed a year later by another label called "Misc", this time for selling artworks and other products.

In early 2009 they released a new LP, an experimental collaboration with poet Gerry Mitchell called "The Invisible Lodger" and signed the first act to release on the Various Production label, Gold Panda.

Discography

References

External links

Category:English electronic music groups Category:Dubstep music groups Category:XL Recordings artists

Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend Award in 1991. He is particularly recognized as the producer of the album ''Thriller'', by pop icon Michael Jackson, which has sold more than 110 million copies worldwide, and as the producer and conductor of the charity song “We Are the World”. He has also done production work on the new Jay-Z/ Kanye West collaborative album , Watch the Throne.

In 1968, Jones and his songwriting partner Bob Russell became the first African Americans to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song ''The Eyes of Love'' from the Universal Pictures film ''Banning (film)''. That same year, he became the first African American to be nominated twice within the same year when he was nominated for Best Original Score for his work on the music of the 1967 film ''In Cold Blood''. In 1971, Jones would receive the honor of becoming the first African American to be named musical director/conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony. He was the first African American to win the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 1995. He is tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the most Oscar-nominated African American, each of them having seven nominations. At the 2008 BET Awards, Quincy Jones was presented with the Humanitarian Award. He was played by Larenz Tate in the 2004 biopic about Ray Charles, ''Ray''.

Early life

In 1951, Jones won a scholarship to the Schillinger House (now Berklee College of Music) in Boston, Massachusetts. However, he abandoned his studies when he received an offer to tour as a trumpeter with the bandleader Lionel Hampton. While Jones was on the road with Hampton, he displayed a gift for arranging songs. Jones relocated to New York City, where he received a number of freelance commissions arranging songs for artists like Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Gene Krupa, and his close friend Ray Charles.

Musical career

In 1957, Quincy settled in Paris where he studied composition and theory with Nadia Boulanger and Olivier Messiaen. He also performed at the Paris Olympia. Jones became music director at Barclay Disques, the French distributor for Mercury Records.

During the 1950s, Jones successfully toured throughout Europe with a number of jazz orchestras. As musical director of Harold Arlen's jazz musical ''Free and Easy'', Quincy Jones took to the road again. A European tour closed in Paris in February 1960. With musicians from the Arlen show, Jones formed his own big band, called The Jones Boys, with 18 artists—plus their families—in tow. The band included jazz greats Eddie Jones and fellow trumpeter Reunald Jones, and organized a tour of North America and Europe. Though the European and American concerts met enthusiastic audiences and sparkling reviews, concert earnings could not support a band of this size, and poor budget planning made it an economic disaster; the band dissolved and the fallout left Jones in a financial crisis. Quoted in ''Musician'' magazine, Jones said about his ordeal, "We had the best jazz band in the planet, and yet we were literally starving. That's when I discovered that there was ''music'', and there was the ''music business''. If I were to survive, I would have to learn the difference between the two." Irving Green, head of Mercury Records, got Jones back on his feet with a personal loan and a new job as the musical director of the company's New York division, where he worked with Doug Moody, who would later go on to form Mystic Records . In 1964, Jones was promoted to vice-president of the company, thus becoming the first African American to hold such an executive position in a white-owned record company.

In that same year, Quincy Jones turned his attention to another musical arena that had long been closed to blacks—the world of film scores. At the invitation of director Sidney Lumet, he composed the music for ''The Pawnbroker''. It was the first of his 33 major motion picture scores.

Following the success of ''The Pawnbroker'', Jones left Mercury Records and moved to Los Angeles. After his score for ''The Slender Thread'', starring Sidney Poitier, he was in constant demand as a composer. His film credits in the next five years included ''Walk, Don't Run'', ''In Cold Blood'', ''In the Heat of the Night'', ''A Dandy in Aspic'', ''Mackenna's Gold'', The Italian Job, ''Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice'', ''The Lost Man'', ''Cactus Flower'', and ''The Getaway''. In addition, he also composed The Streetbeater, which is the familiar theme song for the television sitcom ''Sanford and Son'', starring close friend Redd Foxx.

In the 1960s, Jones worked as an arranger for some of the most important artists of the era, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, and Dinah Washington. Jones's solo recordings also garnered acclaim, including ''Walking in Space'', ''Gula Matari'', ''Smackwater Jack'', ''You've Got It Bad, Girl'', ''Body Heat'', ''Mellow Madness'', and ''I Heard That!!''.

He is well known for his 1962 tune "Soul Bossa Nova", which originated on the ''Big Band Bossa Nova'' album. "Soul Bossa Nova" was a theme for the 1998 World Cup, the Canadian game show ''Definition'', the Woody Allen film ''Take the Money and Run'' and the Mike Myers movie ''Austin Powers in Goldmember'', and was sampled by Canadian hip hop group Dream Warriors for their song, "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style".

Jones was also responsible for producing all four singles for Lesley Gore selling million during the early and mid-sixties, including "It's My Party" (UK #8; US #1), "Judy's Turn To Cry" (US #5), "She's A Fool" (also a US #5) in 1963, and "You Don't Own Me" (US #2 for four weeks in 1964). He continued to produce for Lesley through to 1966.

Jones's 1981 album ''The Dude'' yielded multiple hit singles, including "Ai No Corrida" (a remake of a song by Chaz Jankel), "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways", the latter two featuring James Ingram on lead vocals and marking Ingram's first hits.

In 1985, Jones scored the Steven Spielberg film adaptation of ''The Color Purple''. He and Jerry Goldsmith (from ''Twilight Zone: The Movie'') are the only composers besides John Williams to have scored a Spielberg theatrical film. After the 1985 American Music Awards ceremony, Jones used his influence to draw most of the major American recording artists of the day into a studio to lay down the track "We Are the World" to raise money for the victims of Ethiopia's famine. When people marveled at his ability to make the collaboration work, Jones explained that he'd taped a simple sign on the entrance: "Check Your Ego At The Door".

Starting in the late 1970s, Jones tried to convince Miles Davis to re-perform the music he had played on several classic albums that had been arranged by Gil Evans in the 1960s. Davis had always refused, citing a desire not to revisit the past. In 1991, Davis, then suffering from pneumonia, relented and agreed to perform the music at a concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The resulting album from the recording, ''Miles & Quincy Live at Montreux'', was Davis' last released album (he died several months afterward) and is considered an artistic triumph.

In 1993, Jones collaborated with David Salzman to produce the concert extravaganza ''An American Reunion'', a celebration of Bill Clinton's inauguration as president of the United States. In 1994, Salzman and Jones formed the company Quincy Jones/David Salzman Entertainment (QDE) with Time/Warner Inc. QDE is a diverse company which produces media technology, motion pictures, television programs (''In the House'', ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', and ''MADtv''), and magazines (''Vibe'' and ''Spin'').

In 2001, he published his autobiography, ''Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones''. On July 31, 2007, Jones partnered with Wizzard Media to launch the Quincy Jones Video Podcast. In each episode, Jones shares his knowledge and experience in the music industry. The first episode features Jones in the studio, producing "I Knew I Loved you" for Celine Dion, which is featured on the Ennio Morricone tribute album, ''We All Love Ennio Morricone''. Jones is also noted for helping produce Anita Hall's CD, ''Send Love'', which was released in 2009.

Work with Michael Jackson

In a 2002 interview, when Jackson was asked if he would ever work with Jones again he replied, "The door is always open". However, in 2007, when NME.COM asked Jones a similar question, he said "Man, please! We already did that. I have talked to him about working with him again but I've got too much to do. I've got 900 products, I'm 74 years old."

Following Jackson's death on June 25, 2009, Jones said:

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Work with Frank Sinatra

Media appearances

Quincy Jones hosted an episode of the long-running NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' on February 10, 1990 (during SNL's 15th season [the 1989–1990 season]). The episode was notable for having 10 musical guests (the most any ''SNL'' episode has ever had in its 30-plus years on the air): Tevin Campbell, Andrae Crouch, Sandra Crouch, rappers Kool Moe Dee and Big Daddy Kane, Melle Mel, Quincy D III, Siedah Garrett, Al Jarreau, and Take 6, and for a performance of Dizzy Gillespie's "Manteca" by The SNL Band (conducted by Quincy Jones himself). Jones also impersonated Marion Barry in the then-recurring sketch, "The Bob Waltman Special". Quincy Jones would later be producer for his own sketch comedy show, FOX's ''MADtv''.

Jones appeared in the Walt Disney Pictures film ''Fantasia 2000'', introducing the set piece of George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue''. Two years later he made a cameo appearance as himself in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember. On February 10, 2008, Jones presented at the Grammy Awards. With Usher he presented Album of The Year to Herbie Hancock.

On January 6, 2009, Quincy Jones appeared on NBC's ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' to discuss various experiences within his prolific career. Also discussed was the informal notion of Jones becoming the first minister of culture for the United States — following the pending inauguration of the 44th U.S. President, Barack Obama. Carson Daly indicated the U.S. as being one of the only leading world countries, along with Germany, to exclude this position from the national government. This idea has also been subject to more in-depth discussion on NPR and the ''Chronicle of Higher Education''.

On December 12, 2009, Jones performed at a private reception for USAA employees at the Alamo Dome, in San Antonio, TX.

On February 5, 2011 Quincy Jones appeared on CBS's Late night show with David Letterman.

Awards and recognition

Discography

Personal life

For the 2006 PBS television program ''African American Lives'', Jones had his DNA tested; the results found that on his paternal line (Y DNA) he is of European ancestry and on his maternal side (mt DNA) he is of West African/Central African ancestry of Tikar descent. The series revealed plenty of surprises, including the fact that Quincey Jones' family hails from an area in Cameroon known for its music. On hearing the information, Jones said: "I would have never guessed."

Jones has never learned to drive, citing an accident in which he was a passenger (at age 14) as the reason.

Social activism

In 2004, Jones helped launch the We Are the Future (WAF) project, which gives children in poor and conflict-ridden areas a chance to live their childhoods and develop a sense of hope. The program is the result of a strategic partnership between the Glocal Forum, the Quincy Jones Listen Up Foundation and Hani Masri, with the support of the World Bank, UN agencies and major companies. The project was launched with a concert in Rome, Italy, in front of an audience of half a million people.

Jones supports a number of other charities including the NAACP, GLAAD, Peace Games, AmfAR and The Maybach Foundation. Jones serves on the Advisory Board of HealthCorps. On July 26, 2007, he announced his endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president. But with the election of Barack Obama, Quincy Jones said that his next conversation "with President Obama [will be] to beg for a secretary of arts," prompting the circulation of a petition on the Internet asking Obama to create such a Cabinet-level position in his administration.

In 2001, he became an honorary member of the Board of Directors of The Jazz Foundation of America. Jones worked with The Jazz Foundation of America to save the homes and the lives of America's elderly jazz and blues musicians including those who survived Hurricane Katrina.

Brazilian culture

See also

References

External links

Category:1933 births Category:Academy Honorary Award recipients Category:African American musicians Category:African American composers Category:American composers Category:American dance musicians Category:American film score composers Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:American music arrangers Category:American record producers Category:American television producers Category:Bebop trumpeters Category:Bell Records artists Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:Cameroonian people Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Category:Crossover jazz trumpeters Category:Grammy Award winners Category:MusiCares Person of the Year Honorees Category:Harvard University people Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Jazz composers Category:Jazz-pop trumpeters Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Musicians from Washington (state) Category:Qwest Records artists Category:Songwriters from Illinois Category:Swing trumpeters Category:National Humanities Medal recipients